Pittsburgh Steelers' Devlin Hodges to start Week 16 against New York Jets

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The Pittsburgh Steelers are going to stick it out with Devlin “Duck” Hodges for Sunday’s game against the New York Jets after a disappointing performance in Week 15, coach Mike Tomlin said.

Hodges was 23-for-38 with 202 passing yards, one touchdown and four interceptions in the 17-10 loss to the Buffalo Bills. Tomlin was noncommittal when initially talking about who is going to be the team’s starting quarterback going forward. But he made a stand Tuesday.

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“The protection and safeguarding of the football is first and foremost. We didn’t do a good enough job of it collectively. Duck didn’t do a good enough job of it as a quarterback, but we’ll move forward and hopefully learn some significant lessons from that experience,” Tomlin said, according to the team’s website.

“Duck will start at quarterback this week,” he said. “I look forward to giving him an opportunity to rebound. I think it’s reasonable to expect growth from young players as they get exposure. Sometimes that exposure can be negative exposure, like his experience in the last game, but exposure is a tool for growth, particularly at the quarterback position."

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“I think it’s reasonable to expect him to learn from those negative experiences from last Sunday night and apply it to this next opportunity and really, hopefully, to not make those same mistakes twice," Tomlin added.

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The Steelers are hanging on to the final AFC playoff spot by a thread. Pittsburgh is 8-6 this season and will need a solid performance from Hodges and the rest of the team to stay in contention.